Just got back from a few weeks in Algeria and thought I’d write up a trip report about this lesser travelled North African country. Will split it into various posts about general tips and some information on cities I visited.
Top Tips
>Knowing Arabic or French is going to make your life far far easier here, basically everybody speaks French, the younger people might speak English
>Bring cash euros and exchange them on the black market, you’ll get about 50% more dinar than taking out from a machine/changing at the bank
>Use couchsurfing, it’s super easy to get hosted here and the people are very kind and willing to show you around and feed you good local food
>Don’t underestimate the size of the country, for context it’s about 2/3rds the size of India and can take a long time to get from place to place
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Money
As I mentioned before it’s better to bring in cash before you get here. If you bring in more than 1000 euros declare it at the airport or else what you have left might be confiscated when you leave the country
https://devisesquare.com/#EUR
This website will tell you the current black market rate, you can ask people in whatever city you’re in where to change. Euros are by far the easiest to exchange followed British pounds or American dollars.
It’s not an especially expensive country, the biggest costs will be a place to stay. A nice hotel will set you back 5-6000 dinar (€25-30), a private room in a “dortoir” 2500-3000 (~€15) and a shared room around 1000 dinar (€5).
As a reference I spent €350 over the course of 19 days and I don’t feel I was being especially stingy. Worth noting that aside from a 4-5 nights I was couchsurfing and so saved a lot of money on accommodation.
>Worth noting that aside from a 4-5 nights I was couchsurfing and so saved a lot of money on accommodation
Was your lodging choice a matter of convenience in terms of proximity to cool stuff or were you just being frugal? That being said, if you were to do it again, would you opt for hotels or couchsurf?
Well couchsurfing isn't just about a free bed it's also about the people you get to meet, I could easily have afforded to stay in hotels (I bought €1000 in cash to be on the safe side) but it was more enjoyable for me to surf
If I were to do it again CS 100%, this trip actually reminded me what it is I love about that app cause it's been about a year since I used it
That being said my host in Constantine was a bit far from the city, if I'd known that before I'd probably have picked a hotel for that city
Getting in
One of the reasons Algeria has so little tourism compared to it’s neighbours Morocco and Tunisia is because of the visa requirement (that and the fact they make no effort to advertise tourism)
The best way to make sure your visa is approved is to get a letter of invitation, I got mine from someone I contacted on couchsurfing. Hotel bookings are also accepted but from the people I’ve talked to it will take longer to get your visa if you use those.
I’ve heard mixed reviews on how difficult the visa is, for me it was a very straight forward process, compiled my documents, paid and got my passport back in a week but the few other tourists I met while I was there told me theirs was lengthy and complicated.
For British citizens the visa is £85 and I expect it to be similar for most other countries. I think some Americans I met said there’s were $140.
Thanks for the info. The visa invitation letter sounds like a bummer though, maybe I'd need to find someone on interpals.
It's not that bad, I imagine you can probably pay a company to provide it as well if you want to avoid the hassle
Getting Around
Like most other MENA countries Algeria doesn’t have great public transport. There’s trains connecting a lot of coastal cities though when I tried to go from Algiers to Oran they were striking.
The most popular way to get between cities is by shared taxi or bus, you just have to go to the “gare” and then ask around about the city you want to go to. Shared taxis are faster, generally comfier and not expensive. A 5 hour ride will cost around 1000 dinar.
Flights within the country are also quite frequent and cheap, they’ll cost around €25-40 and even the longest flight will only take a couple of hours.
Buses within cities are quite easy to use as they have the destinations on the front in French and Arabic. They cost 20-25 dinar depending on the city.
Taxis will rip you off but a fair price is around 200-300 dinar for a 20 minute trip. You can use the app yessir as an equivalent to uber.
Algiers
The capital city, unless you’re flying from France most flights in and out of the country will either come to here or Oran. It’s quite a diverse city in the sense it has people from all over the country here. There’s a public metro which is fast, clean, reliable and cheap (50 dinar for a ticket).
Main things to see include
>Casbah (the old city)
>Downtown, an area built by the French where you can enjoy the colonial architecture and get a beer if you fancy
>El Harrach
>The Notre Dame of Africa
>Jardin d'essais
>There are some beaches nearby but I never went
do you have more algiers pics?
Didn't take too many in Algiers really
Is that a cable car going up a hill/mountain?
Yeah, just outside the Jardin d'essais there's a cable car, costs like £0.10 to ride it, view is ok but nothing to shout about
>pic unrelated but also algiers
Oran
The second city of Algeria, slightly more liberal than Algiers and a lot more “middle east looking”. Honestly a lot of people talked about how nice this city was but I thought it was just ok, regardless it has some interesting things to see and do.
>Go to Santa Cruz fort
>See the old cathedral (now converted into a library)
>Bey’s palace
>The historical square
Through a friend of a friend I was able to stay a couple of nights out in this national park. A bit out of the way definitely recommended if you’re a fan of nature and walking.
Around here you can go hiking through the mountains on either side of the valley, take a swim in one of the many ponds that have formed (water is very cold though), try the hash as it’s extremely popular in this area, visit the a local hammam and just relax away from the bigger cities.
The people here are a lot simpler and the pace of life a lot slower, definitely one of my trip highlights.
Ghadahia
Ghadahia is a very interesting city, far more conservative than other parts of the country though this is common as you get further into the sahara.
The main populaton here is made up of the Mozabite people, this place is completely different to the other cities in terms of people, architecture, culture, way of life, history and language. The only place in the MENA region I’ve been where smoking is considered antisocial (it’s actually banned in any parts of the old cities)
The city is made up of 7 old cities, the oldest dating back 1000 years and is known as the gateway to the sahara. As you can expect this is a stop off point for people heading further into the sahara, unfortunately I didn’t have time to go further in on this trip.
Definitely spend a few days here and get to know the city, it’s well worth it.
Why did you decide to go there anon? Are you French, so you already knew the language?
Been to quite a few MENA countries and saw some cheap flights here so it seemed to make sense as my next destination to visit
Was well worth it, an extremely underrated destination in my opinion
I only speak the French I learned in school
Security is completely fine everywhere aside from if you're within maybe 10km of the southern borders
There's a very popular tourist spot called Djanet right in the bottom corner of the country which is deep in the desert but still very safe, sadly I didn't have time to visit there
Constantine
Constantine is an extremely beautiful city, another one almost entirely built by the French and the architecture reflects that. Worth noting however that the Romans spent some time here and you can see evidence of this from some of the old bridges
It’s really not a big city, you could see everything you need to in a day or maybe two if you want to take it a bit more slowly. Things to do include
>Prince Abdel Kadar Mosque which is extremely impressive
>Ahmed Bey Palace
>Walking across the various bridges throughout the city and taking in the views
>Sit in Bennancer Square and watch people fight, I don’t know what it is about this place but people kept fighting each other and it was entertaining to sit and watch
>Monument aux Morts which also offers great views of the surrounding countryside
Awesome thread.
How's the security situation, is there any terrorist activity to be worried about once you go further south and away from the coastline?
Hello
Is this a good place for cooming
Bejaia
Maybe my favourite city in the country. Yet another place with it’s own group of people who speak the Kabyle language.
By far the most “liberal” place I visited, the people are open minded, if you want to grab a beer and enjoy the nightlife this is the place to do it. As well as this it’s situated on some of the best coastline has to offer, definitely take the chance to get to one of the beach coves and take a swim, when I was there last week the water was the perfect temperature.
Bejaia is also surrounded by mountains with some stunning views over the city and coast, take the chance to get outside the city and visit Cap Carbon, walk along the cliffs and take in the views. You can also watch the monkeys that live around here, don’t try pet them though they can get a little aggressive, they’ll also probably try to steal any bottles of water you have
This was the final city I visited before I left the country, was the perfect place to relax and unwind before going back to work. Couchsurf here if you can, will be a far better experience seeing the place with a local and being introduced to their friends.
Pic rel is one place I went swimming
>By far the most “liberal” place I visited, the people are open minded
When you say liberal are the girls in bikinis or still wearing hijabs?
>are the girls in bikinis
Most don't wear the hijab there, bikinis I don't know most of the locals considered it too cold to be swimming this time of year so the beaches were pretty empty, wouldn't surprise me though
Yeah it's a common problem in most 2nd/3rd world countries
This is what happens if you leave your water bottle unguarded
It's really nice to see a trip report on here. Keep posting pics and sharing anon. I don't recall ever seeing a thread about Algeria on here.
Are there still entry restrictions and anything in-country?
Ok that's about all I had planned to say about Algeria, if anyone has any questions or wants more pictures of specific places just ask here and I'll try help out
Will check the threat again later tonight
To get into the country vaccine within 9 months or PCR test
Once you're in the country no restrictions
Djemila
Not too much to say about this place, if you’re into history you can come here to see some very well preserved Roman ruins, if you’re not a history buff can probably just give it a skip.
Would be a good plan to do this as a day trip from Constantine as they’re only about 1h30 from each other (which by Algerian standards is a very short drive)
I really want to see some Roman ruins and read that there are some well preserved ones in Algeria. This one blog said that Djemila would be the best. Was this the best Roman ruin you saw? You only posted one pic but from what I've read it sounds like it's worth the trip.
Yeah that was the best I saw, there's also a place near Algiers called Tipaza which everyone raves about for the ruins and beaches but I didn't have the time to go there
Chrea
Realised I forgot to talk about this place. Only about 1 hour from Algiers (you can take the train to Blida and go from there) and an easy way to get out to nature. Blida itself doesn’t have much to offer but get out to the mountains of Chrea, it’s a bit of a drive but once you get on the road hitchhiking up is possible and quite easy. Unlike Beni Snuss where the mountains are dusty and rocky these are much greener and more akin to what you might see in Europe.
If you’re a fan of cycling try find somewhere to rent a bike because the roads would be perfect for it. A great place to go for a day or two to get away from the city and enjoy the fresh air and tranquility. You’ll also see wild pigs and horses around these parts.
this does not look like Africa at all. its the like the Bsharri District in Lebanon. Of course I know this is in Algeria but the similarity to Lebanon is uncanny.
Almost as if they're both Mediterranean
I'm surprised that Couchsurfing still exists. Haven't heard about it in quite a while.
How much of this place is actually a dump? Like, apart from the medinas. I went to Tunisia recently and outside of a few select places everything looked pretty ghetto.
Urban areas are generally quite clean but one thing that really annoys me is when you're out in nature a lot of the time there will just be loads of rubbish people have just chucked there
It's a shockingly dawn map but here, my route was
Algiers -> Oran -> Tlemcen -> Beni Snous -> Algiers -> Blida/Chrea -> Ghadahia -> Constantine -> Djimela -> Bejaia -> fly out from Algiers
>one thing that really annoys me is when you're out in nature a lot of the time there will just be loads of rubbish people have just chucked there
LMAO so no different than any other african/asian country
Thanks for the trip report anon. If you have more experiences to share please do. Always have been interested in the MENA region but have never visited.
Could you draw your itinerary in a map if possible?
can you frick girls
I didn't have time, this trip I covered the north, next year I'll cover the desert
All of these pictures look gorgeous. Glad you had such a good trip and thanks for putting these places on my radar
Another photo of Beni Snous
>benis nous
fuggggg x-DDDDDDD
Judging from your description I would do 1 day in Algiers at most to see what's left of the colonial architecture but spend my time in Bejaia and Constantine, and maybe 1 day in Oran.
The nature looks pathetic tbh so wouldn't go to Cheia etc
In any case, thanks for posting such a detailed account
Probably more than one day to be honest, there's enough to see for at least a couple
If you don't like big cities then yeah head out of there, Constantine is really beautiful and bejaia is great so spending more time there than Algiers is what I'd recommend
It's what I did and I'm glad I did
good thread
What is the cooming situations? Are you make a sex with local lady?
A quality thread on SighSee is the last thing I expected to find this morning. Making coffee and settling in for a comfy read; keep pics coming OP.
This is the downtown area of Algiers, built by the French
Building on the right is the central post office
What would these colonial countries be without their colonizers. Everyone loves that shit. Probably more muslims in Paris now than Algiers
vgh.......L'Étranger
One of the many old towns of Ghardaia, in the background you can see a woman in the traditional dress
Before marriage they show their faces, after marriage they cover up
It's actually prohibited to take pictures of women in this area but because she was just in the background it was fine
Cool thread, thanks OP. After a trip to Egypt I've really wanted to go to north africa and particularly to see the desert, though I know about 10 words of arab and french combined.
How was the situation with stray dogs in urban and rural areas?
Didn't really see many dogs at all, domesticated or stray, there's basically none in the urban areas
In the rural areas you sometimes get them guarding farms and whatnot but they tend to just stand their ground and bark until you move on
Sun setting over the old town of Ghardaia
This city is interesting because they essentially administer everything themselves
A council of 12 "respectable" men and women over see all the decisions, respectable means they're over 40 and lead a wholesome life, even arguments with their wife could lead to not being eligible
They don't have a police force, just a neighbourhood watch who keep things in check
If you've ever seen the film hotfuzz it kinda reminded me of that
Great thread OP, I hope to visit Algeria and Tunisia someday.
Yeah one guy I met said he hitchhiked all the way from Algiers to Tunisia, sounds like a great trip
How are the women though? What about tinder?
Yeah, I'm interested in this too. Have their ties with France over the years sufficiently corrupted their morals? Will hotel workers look at you funny if you bring a woman up to your room?
>Have their ties with France over the years sufficiently corrupted their morals?
No not particularly, all things considered it's still a reasonably strict Islamic country
I've been to Morocco and Tunisia. Two countries next to Algeria and remember the girls there being surprisingly easy. Thought all Muslims would be super strict. Apparently they aren't.
Where did you meet them, on tinder or just randomly out there?
Randomly. They would flirt with me in public. This was like 7 years ago now. I was like 18 at the time. Problem was that at the time I was fricking pathetic with women. Now I'm much better at picking up cues and picking them up but I'm late 20s. 🙁
I work online now so I would like to return to frick some mena girls.
French thing is a meme I've read. Like the french dude's would paint these half naked girls but it was all some fricked up colonial thing to degrade the northbound immigrants so they would get harassed in french communities.
That said, idk how different Algeria is from Tunisia, but some Tuni I met in Turkey last year told me women in his country were kind of loose compared to most of MENA.
please come to to Kabylie
>Just got back from a few weeks in Algeria
How was Paris this time of year?
Great trip OP, these kind of posts is the reason why I keep coming back here. On that note, did you come in contact with any Berber tribe such as the Tuareg? If yes what was your experience like?
the best meme that has come out of SighSee in a long time
hai sir ... creampie algeria no HIV or many HIV sir?
Not a redeemable meme.
Hoping OP comes back to answer questions
Unless I've missed one it's just the shitposts I've ignored I think
I have family in Constantine, but I've only been to Algeria as a small child. I could technically get a passport but I do not trust that I'd be fricked with national service. Good thread op, I'll have to visit soon (probably just with a visa to start).
me too, too afraid ill get conscripted, i might go with family visa and come with some bs that i'm trying to get my dad's 12s
t. canada
lol you guys will be fine
t.burger diaspora living here
you got the exemption?
Nope, just went about my life like normal and no one ever came to call or anything
I'm going to Marrakech in a couple of weeks. What should I do there?
Outstanding post
start a thread about how annoying being sold to in a marketplace is
I'm impervious to these kinds of leeches.
Mostly going for Food and culture though.
hey, i'll be there too.
why doesn't Dubai build a huge Arabic castle city, something out of aladin, imagine the vibes. But no lets make concrete dildos.
They are best positioned to build that architecture and make it modern
That's not instagrammable.
I mean it's pretty much the definition of instagrammable
>huge Arabic castle city, something out of aladin
kids cant pay for tickets to dubai
Gulf arabs are dumb and can't build shit unlike their neighbors who had a hundred years of ancient history.
They're not building any of that shit either. They only throw oil money at westerners who do all the design and work.